In the midst of negotiations for the omnibus law, the PAIS tax has become a spoil that everyone is fighting over. No wonder: in January, following the devaluation and tax changes, the collection This tax increased by 1.252% and reached 469.199 million pesos.
The Tax for an Inclusive and Solidarity Argentina (PAÍS) was born just over four years ago, when the administration of Alberto Fernández and From a slap in the face to a drowning man to stop the escape of dollars, it has become a lifeline that governors intend to hold on towho see how the Nation cuts their contributions and at the same time pushes them to support the omnibus bill through their legislators.
From its creation to today, the COUNTRY Tax has had a specific task. 70% remains in ANSES and PAMI and 30% goes to a trust fund to carry out work in the provinces.
What has changed in recent years, and which has been strengthened by the Milei presidency, is both the composition of the tax and the operations that are carried out.
Originally the tax had a 30% rate applied to savings dollar purchases and card transactions abroad. Six months ago, when Sergio Massa was Minister of Economy, he extended it to imports, with a rate of 7.5%.
Therefore, tax revenue was strengthened first by imports and then by the jumps made by the dollar from August last year to today. In that period it went from $290 to $827.
In turn, MIlei expanded it to raise the rate to 17.5% for imports.
Reporting on the January collection, the AFIP specified that the jump in the PAIS tax was due to “the expansion of its tax base with the income from the payment applied on some imports”.
“At the same time, they increased compared to previous months, due to the increase in the exchange rate, and the increase in rates for both down payments and imports of goods and freight compared to those in effect in the previous month. ”, claims the organization.
From the IARAF they underline that in the month of January, without taking into account the effect of inflation, PAIS tax collection increased in real terms by 25.4% compared to December.
The PAIS tax sharing is the exchange currency that governors are asking to approve changes to the omnibus bill. The managers’ request is to be compensated with this for the loss of the income tax sharing that they themselves approved last year and which freed up the payment of this tax to 95% of workers.
In the original draft of the omnibus law, Milei tried to do this the Nation will maintain 100% of the tax collected. That is, eliminating the 30% that was destined for jobs in the most unfavorable sectors.
That said, governors have counterattacked by calling for tax sharing, which would allow them to keep virtually half of what they receive from that tax. Although there has been progress in preliminary talks with government negotiators, Milei slammed the door on that idea.
But governors believe there is still room to fight.
In the middle, the Monetary Fund stuck its tail. And in the information report that the organization issued after approving the disbursement 4.7 billion dollars which was pending for Argentina, scored the pitch. There they mention that the new government has pledged to eliminate short-term exchange restrictions and dismantle them the PAIS tax at the end of the year.
This clashes with the governors’ request for co-participation. “It is known that if you divide the tax you do not take more” argue the negotiators most tied to the care of cash.
Source: Clarin
